About Us

We are a national charitable organization dedicated to improving the lives of Canadians living with mental illness and their families and caregivers, by advancing outcomes-based mental health research.

Who We Are

Mental Health Research Canada (MHRC) is dedicated to improving the lives of the 1 in 5 Canadians – over 7 million men, women and children – living with mental illness, as well as their families, friends, caregivers and communities. We do this by advancing evidence-based mental health research that is problem-solving, cost-effective and usable in the real world. Our staff and our Board of Directors bring a wealth of experience, including management of the Ontario Mental Health Foundation, to guide our work. Most especially, we are guided by the needs of our diverse stakeholders, leading with people with lived experience.

What We Do

We advance mental health research that generates evidence-based outcomes.

We are committed to sharing knowledge and collaborating with stakeholders and partners to support innovative research and evidence-based solutions that will improve the lives of Canadians. We are able to do this by putting people with lived experience at the heart of our research process. Over a 10-year period, Mental Health Research Canada and its predecessor organization (Ontario Mental Health Foundation) provided $34 million in funding to 332 research projects.

We manage the research processfor our funding partners and stakeholders.

We partner with individuals and organizations that have the funds to investigate a mental health issue, but not the expertise. We manage the entire research process – from helping to shape the research question and consequently the research proposal, to setting up a panel of experts to peer-review all submissions, to administering the funds to selected investigators.

Our Financial Statement

Our History

MENTAL HEALTH RESEARCH CANADA opened its doors on April 1, 2018, building on the Ontario Mental Health Foundation’s 55-year legacy.

2018: The OMHF closesd its doors on March 31, 2018.

2015: Collaborated with five Canadian mental health research funders to fund the first Canada-wide project on valid, reliable performance indicators for Canadian mental health services – critical for improving the performance of mental health care systems. Rand Europe identified the OMHF as the sixth most productive funder of mental health research in Canada and in the top 100 worldwide.

2013: Dr. Jeff Daskalakis, a long-time OMHF-funded researcher, received the Dr. Samarthji Lal award from the Graham Boeckh Foundation. The award honours a Canadian researcher in the area of psychiatry, with a focus on major mental disorders, who is mid-career and making an outstanding contribution to the field.

2012: Dr. Heather Stuart, a past OMHF funded researcher and current OMHF board member, became the world’s first Bell Mental Health and Anti-Stigma Research Chair.

2005: Founding partner and oversaw a multi-year research project, System Enhancement Evaluation Initiative (SEEI), to evaluate the outcome of increased funding for community mental health programs.

2004: Supported (with Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care) a multi-year project to address the issue of women and depression.

2001: Developed a Special Initiatives Program that supported large-scale projects to generate discoveries in therapies for psychotic illnesses. Funded three multi-year projects solely: Epigenetics of Schizophrenia, Dr. Arturas Petronis; Decoding Schizophrenia, Dr. Sajit Kapur; and Early Intervention in Schizophrenia, Dr. Jean Addington.

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1997: Partnered in and oversaw a five-year, multi-site project, Community Mental Health Evaluation Initiative, to evaluate aspects of Ontario’s community mental health system – the most significant body of research on community mental health carried out in Ontario.

1990: Planned, managed and funded the first Ontario Mental Health Survey. Also created and funded special grant competition for applications to analyze the survey’s results.

1981: Set up Peer Review Committees for grants and fellowships, to review applications for scientific merit and relevance.

1963: Created a separate corporation to operate a psychiatric institution – the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in honour of Dr. C.K. Clarke. Awards granted for first time: $328,000 ($2.4 million in 2015) for 33 researchers.

1962: A Special Act of the Ontario Legislature establishes the Ontario Mental Health Foundation, led by Justice Arthur Kelly, who made a sizable donation to the OMHF.